Rebel Records operated for about two years
(1969-70)
and according to Chris Spencer it released eleven singles and one LP;
so far Milesago has been able to identify seven of its single
releases. Paul McHenry reports that the label was estasblished and run by Peter Goodman, manager of The Town Criers.

Rebel's inaugural single was by
Melbourne band The
Expression, and this 45 is now very rare. The A-side
"Quicksand" is particularly notable because it was written
by Doug Ford and Jim Keays of The
Masters Apprentices. Although it didn't become a hit, it was
evidently a strong release, and Vernon
Joyson raves about it in his book Dreams,
Fantasies & Nightmares:

"'Quicksand' ... was a wild
psychedelic offering with screaming vocals and great acid guitar work.
The flip was almost as heavy and notable for its pounding beat. This
was one of the very best guitar-driven psychedelic singles ever issued
by an Aussie band in the early seventies."

The Expression continued working around Melbourne until 1972,
after which guitarist Peter
Gregory joined The
Ash with Criston Barker.

Rebel's fourth release is another interesting item; it was
credited
to The Meating, a
one-off 'supergroup' of top Melbourne-based
musos -- 'Sleepy' Greg Lawrie and John Capek from Carson, Matt
Taylor, Tim Piper and Graham 'Yuk' Harrison from Genesis, and Trevor
Courtney from Cam-Pact.

Another historically significant release on Rebel was the
debut single
by The
Carson County Band. Their Rebel single was released before singer Broderick Smith joined the group, which soon became nationally known under its shortened
name, Carson. Both The Ash and Carson went on to record for the Havoc label.

Rebel recording artist Gil Roberts released two singles on the
label and his second 45 appears to have been the label's only chart
success. It was a cover of the Cliff Richard oddity "Goodbye Sam,
Hello Samantha", an Australian Top 20 hit, which Gil presumably
covered because Cliff's version (released on
EMI) was a victim of the 1970
Radio Ban. His version co-charted with Cliff's, peaking at
#19 in Go-Set in
early January 1971 and charting for 13 weeks. Chris Spencer reports
that Gil went
on to become the A&R manager for the Rajon
label.

According to Paul McHenry, Tony Lee was a Sydney-based club singer, but nothing else is known of him at this stage.